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Trends in congregation size by worship attendance in the ELCA

Research and EvaluationEvangelical Lutheran Church in AmericaSeptember 19, 2007

During the Cabinet presentation by Mark Chaves on September 18, 2007, we were shown evidence of an increasing concentration of attenders in large congregations. This trend is also apparent in the ELCA. In 1988, for example, 4.4 percent of all those attending worship in the ELCA were in congregations with 801 or more in worship. In 2006, 7.6 percent of those in worship were in congregations with 801 or more in worship.

Comments

Bob Schultz

Posted at 7:25 pm (U.S. Eastern) 11/9/2007

To what extent to the large church figures reflect multiple attendance by choirs, staff, etc. at a number of services? My experience with many of these statistics is that the requests are not definitively specified.

This report seems to reinforce the attempts of some bishops to close smaller churches and appropriate resources. This has not always been good practice.